Content creating device and method

ABSTRACT

An EPLmaker ( 10 ) is composed mainly of editing terminals ( 15 ), ( 16 ) and ( 17 ) each reading and decoding each of highly compressed sub materials to produce a material data and make an EPL while displaying, on a monitor, a video based on the material data. The EPL includes identification information for identification of a material used in editing and a format declare state for defining a format of at least a certain material. The EPLs made by the editing terminals ( 15 ), ( 16 ) and ( 17 ) are stored into an EPL storage unit ( 18 ). The EPLs stored in the EPL storage unit ( 18 ) are read by an edit controller ( 20 ). The edit controller ( 20 ) makes an edit control signal based on the EPLs, and supplies the signal to a content maker ( 30 ). Thus, an editing can be executed with having not to pool the materials once on hand and with labors and costs.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a content formingapparatus and method, an editing list making method, a content makingapparatus and method, an editing apparatus and method and an editinginformation making apparatus and method, and more particularly to acontent forming apparatus and method, an editing list making method, acontent making apparatus and method, an editing apparatus and method andan editing information making apparatus and method, used for forming acontent in a predetermined format from multiple video and/or audiomaterials.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] The history of the moving-picture editing began with splicingcuts of a movie film to each other by the use of an adhesive. In theearly video editing, editing points were marked on a video tape having arecord of video data, the tape was cut at the editing points usingscissors and necessary cuts thus obtained were connected to each otherusing an adhesive (this is called “splicing”). This splicing editing wasfollowed by the modern electronic editing by dubbing. The dubbingediting has been lasting long.

[0003] The so-called nonlinear editing has become prevailing for theseten years. The nonlinear editing technique can be said to be a dubbingediting technique. That is, the nonlinear editing is such that whileviewing images acquired from a medium, the editing person or usersplices the images mainly by dubbing them, subjects them to an imageprocessing as necessary and records an edit result into a medium, orrepeats this series of editing processes. The nonlinear editingtechnique has been lasting for scores of years.

[0004] However, the above traditional technique is not advantageous asfollows:

[0005] Firstly, the repetition of dubbing in the electronic editingcauses image deterioration. This problem is unavoidable with the analogsignal technology, but has been almost solved with the baseband digitaltechnology in which a non-compressed baseband digital signal is dubbed.With the recent prevalence of the technique of image compression,however, the image deterioration has become a problem again becauseirreversible data compression and decompression (expansion) arerepeatedly done in the image compression technique.

[0006] To solve the above problem, it is one way to use a lower ratio ofcompression or a shorter unit of compression. However, this solutioncannot be any complete one to avoid the image deterioration becausethere remain many problems such as larger medium costs, longer time ofcommunications, etc.

[0007] Even when no data compression is made, repetition of theso-called special effects such as image zooming, pixel shift, synthesis,etc. causes the problems such as image deterioration etc.

[0008] Next, the image formats such as NTSC were created andstandardized with major consideration to the TV receiver, carrierfrequency assignment, etc. In these days, however, it is rather commonto use multiple image formats together on the windows of the HDVS andPC. Namely, it has become a large problem in collection of materials andmaking of a complete package to be able to support only one format.

[0009] Further, since the user can make a window of his ownspecification with his computer, the method of selecting a desired oneof available formats cannot support the user sufficiently.

[0010] In editing, time codes are used to identify an intended picturebut they can only identify positions of the picture in a roll of tapeand cannot basically identify the medium itself. Identification of amedium by a reel number is also available but it is used in a localrange of application. Therefore, materials have to be pooled once onhand for later use, for which large labors and costs are required.

[0011] Similarly, the special effects and title superimposing dependupon the type of the user's apparatus. Since the user's apparatus cannotprocess materials by any method not supported thereby, an edit resulthas to be recorded to a user's medium.

[0012] There will be explained herebelow an example of editing using avideo tape recorder (VTR), in which an edit decision list (EDL) isoffline-made for example for a low quality working tape prepared from amaterial tape, and online editing is effected based on the EDL with theuse of the material tape. The EDL used herein is a program having statedtherein cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT) points on the tapes used in aplaying VTR and recorder VTR but convenient since the electronic editingis automatically completed according to the EDL.

[0013] However, since the EDL has included therein incompatible itemssuch as special effects etc., it can only be used in limited types ofsystems. Also, with the EDL, much labor is required for replacement ofthe tape and the like. The EDL is not convenient because of many stepsfor correction of a complete package (video material subjected to allsteps of editing and which can be broadcast as it is); for example, justinsertion of one frame before a first frame needs re-editing or dubbingof the entire complete package.

[0014] As above, the current editing system has many points to solvesuch as efficiency, convenience, etc. and also an aspect which makes itdifficult to enjoy the merit of the network. If the above disadvantageis left unconquered, the current editing system will possibly fallbehind the times. Since various problems are complicatedly tied witheach other, any partial countermeasure, if any, will cause a newprogram, the complicatedness will be further increased and the currentediting system will possibly be difficult to use if any effectiveapproach to a solution of the problems in the conventional editingsystem.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome theabove-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a contentforming apparatus and method, capable of executing an editing withoutpooling materials once on hand and with less labor and costs, namely, acontent forming apparatus and method, capable of forming a content byacquiring a material based on its identification information, and havingnot to transmit any large volume of image data.

[0016] Also, the present invention has another object to provide acontent forming apparatus and method, capable of forming a content byacquiring materials in multiple formats, including multiple video and/oraudio data.

[0017] Also, the present invention has still another object to providean edit decision list making method of making an edit decision listpermitting to form a content with prevention of image deterioration,supporting multiple image data formats and with capability of switchingprocesses from one to another.

[0018] Also, the present invention has yet another object to provide acontent forming apparatus and method, capable of forming a content byplaying back a final edit decision list of a hierarchical structure bythe use of a distributed edit decision list made at any otherdistributed location and forming the content in an arbitrary format withprevention of any image deterioration, supporting multiple image dataformats, having not to poll materials once on hand and with capabilityof switching processes from one to another.

[0019] Also the present invention has yet still another object toprovide an editing unit and method, and editing information makingapparatus and method, used in the above content forming, edit decisionlist making and content making.

[0020] The above object can be attained by providing a content formingapparatus for forming a content from multiple video and/audio materials,the apparatus including according to the present invention:

[0021] means for making an edit decision list for the video and/or audiomaterials;

[0022] an edit controlling means for making an edit control signal basedon the edit decision list made by the edit decision list making means;and

[0023] means for forming a content in a predetermined material formatfrom the material based on the edit control signal from the editcontrolling means;

[0024] the edit decision list including identification information foridentification of a material for use in editing, and a format declarestatement for defining a format of at least a certain material.

[0025] In the above content forming apparatus, the content is formed tohave a format declared by the format declare statement. By declaring aformat by the format declare statement, it is possible to form a contentin any desired format.

[0026] The identification information for the material is a globallyunique identification code, and an identification code foridentification of a material processing method is defined according tothe identification code system. Thus, the material can be specified as aunique one by the globally unique identification code. Also, a materialprocessing method can similarly be stated as an identification code inthe edit decision list.

[0027] Also the above object can be attained by providing a contentforming method of forming a content from multiple video and/audiomaterials, the method including, according to the present invention,steps of:

[0028] making an edit decision list for the video and/or audiomaterials;

[0029] making an edit control signal based on the edit decision listmade at the edit decision list making step; and

[0030] forming a content in a predetermined material format from thematerial based on the edit control signal made at the edit controllingstep;

[0031] the edit decision list including identification information foridentification of a material for use in editing, and a format declarestatement for defining a format of at least a certain material.

[0032] In the above content forming method, the content is formed tohave a format declared by the format declare statement. By declaring aformat by the format declare statement, it is possible to form a contentin any desired format.

[0033] Also, the above object can be attained by providing an editdecision list making method for forming a content from multiple videoand/or audio materials, the method including, according to the presentinvention, steps of:

[0034] defining how the editing is to be done using at leastidentification information form identification of an edit output and aformat declare statement for identification of a format; and

[0035] defining a process to be applied to an input material whiledefining the input material using at least identification informationfor identification of the input material and a format declare statementfor identification of a format of the input material.

[0036] In the above edit decision list making method according to thepresent invention, first at least identification information foridentification of an edit output and format declare statement foridentification of a format are used to define how the editing is to bedone, at least identification information for identification of an inputmaterial and format declare statement for identification of a format ofthe input material are used to define the input material and furtherprocesses to be applied to the input material.

[0037] In the above edit decision list making method, since the outputidentification information and input material identification informationare globally unique identification codes, respectively, of the samesystem, the output and input material can be identified.

[0038] Also, since the processes to be applied to the input material arestated by globally unique identification codes of the same system, theycan also be identified.

[0039] Also, the above object can be attained by providing a contentmaking apparatus including according to the present invention:

[0040] means for making a final edit decision list of a hierarchicalstructure by integrating and optimizing distributed edit decision listsmade of multiple video and/or audio materials at other distributedlocations;

[0041] means for making the distributed edit decision list of materialscorresponding to the edit decision list made by the edit decision listmaking means; and

[0042] means for forming a content in an arbitrary format based on theedit decision list made by the edit decision list making means;

[0043] the edit decision list and/or distributed edit decision listsincluding identification information for identification of a materialfor use in editing and a format declare statement for defining a formatof at least a certain material.

[0044] In the above content making apparatus, the distributed editdecision lists made by the distributed edit decision list making meansat the other distributed locations are integrated and optimized by theedit decision list making means to make a final edit decision list of ahierarchical structure, and a content in an arbitrary format is formedby the content forming means based on the edit decision list. The editdecision list and/or distributed edit decision lists includesidentification information for identification of a material used inediting and a format declare statement for defining a format of at leasta certain material.

[0045] Also, the above object can be attained by providing a contentmaking method including, according to the present invention, steps of:

[0046] making a final edit decision list of a hierarchical structure byintegrating and optimizing distributed edit decision lists made ofmultiple video and/or audio materials at other distributed locations;

[0047] making the distributed edit decision list of materialscorresponding to the edit decision list made at the edit decision listmaking step; and

[0048] means for forming a content in an arbitrary format based on theedit decision list made at the edit decision list making step;

[0049] the edit decision list and/or distributed edit decision listsincluding identification information for identification of a materialfor use in editing and a format declare statement for defining a formatof at least a certain material.

[0050] In the above content making method, the distributed edit decisionlists made by the distributed edit decision list making means at theother distributed locations are integrated and optimized by the editdecision list making means to make a final edit decision list of ahierarchical structure, and a content in an arbitrary format is formedby the content forming means based on the edit decision list. The editdecision list and/or distributed edit decision lists includesidentification information for identification of a material used inediting and a format declare statement for defining a format of at leasta certain material.

[0051] Also, the above object can be attained by providing an editingapparatus including according to the present invention:

[0052] means for making a declare statement written by correlatingidentification information for identification of a source video materialwith a language for defining multiple editing processes to be applied tothe source video materials; and

[0053] means for editing the source video materials based on the declarestatement.

[0054] Also, the above object can be attained by providing an editingapparatus including according to the present invention:

[0055] means for making a statement intended to specify execution ofmultiple editing processes to be applied to a source video material andwritten in a predetermined descriptive language for identification ofhow to process and what to be edited in the multiple editing processes;and

[0056] means for editing the source video material based on thestatement.

[0057] Also, the above object can be attained by providing an editinginformation making apparatus including according to the presentinvention:

[0058] means for receiving information as to multiple editing processesto be applied to a source video material; and

[0059] means for making, based on the information as to the editingprocesses, a declare statement written by correlating identificationinformation for identification of the source video material with alanguage for defining multiple editing processes to be applied to thesource video material.

[0060] Also, the above object can be attained by providing an editinginformation making apparatus including according to the presentinvention:

[0061] means for receiving information as to multiple editing processesto be applied to a source video material; and

[0062] means for making, based on the information as to the editingprocesses, a statement intended to specify execution of the multipleediting processes to be and written in a predetermined descriptivelanguage for identification of how to process and what to be edited inthe multiple editing processes.

[0063] These objects and other objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the best mode for carrying out the present invention whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the content formingapparatus according to the present invention.

[0065]FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the data structure of a UMIDbeing a unique identification code.

[0066]FIG. 3 schematically illustrates source materials and edit-resultmaterial in an editing using the EPL.

[0067]FIG. 4 shows an image of a content forming according to thedescriptive content of such an EPL.

[0068]FIG. 5 shows a detailed example of the EPL statement.

[0069]FIG. 6 provides a detailed illustration of an example of the EPLstatement shown in FIG. 5.

[0070]FIG. 7 shows a concrete example of the video scan formatstatement.

[0071]FIG. 8 schematically illustrates the general construction of thecontent forming system according to the present invention.

[0072]FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a content forming systemin which an EPL is made by multiple editing units sharing the work ofediting.

[0073]FIG. 10 illustrates a part of the process for integrating andoptimizing the statements in the EPL, showing an example of integratingand optimizing logging EPL and cut editing EPL.

[0074]FIG. 11 shows a logging EPL (1) made by the logging unit in thecontent forming system shown in FIG. 9.

[0075]FIG. 12 shows a cut editing EPL (2-a) made by the cut editing unitshown in FIG. 9.

[0076]FIG. 13 shows a mosaic editing EPL (2-b) made by the mosaicediting unit shown in FIG. 9.

[0077]FIG. 14 shows a Japanese subtitle editing EPL (2-c) made by aJapanese subtitle editing unit in the content forming system shown inFIG. 9.

[0078]FIG. 15 shows an English subtitle editing EPL (2-d) made by anEnglish subtitle editing unit in the content forming system shown inFIG. 9.

[0079]FIG. 16 shows an EPL (3) made by the Japanese/English subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit by integrating and optimizing the EPLs(2-a), (2-b) and (2-c) from the editing units in the content formingsystem shown in FIG. 9.

[0080]FIG. 17 shows an example of the EPL integration and optimizationfor NTSC-oriented material conversion.

[0081]FIG. 18 shows another concrete example of the editing at a remoteplace.

[0082]FIG. 19 shows how to solve the problem of image deterioration.

[0083]FIG. 20 shows a concrete example of content formingapparatus/method according to the present invention, in which theproblem of image deterioration is solved.

[0084]FIG. 21 shows a conventional system for simulcasting a program inboth NTSC and high-definition (Hi-vision) formats.

[0085]FIG. 22 shows a simulcasting system including the content formingapparatus and method according to the present invention.

[0086]FIG. 23 explains the video format conversion from an HD image(1080i) to SD image (525i) or vice versa.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0087] The present invention will be described concerning the contentforming apparatus and method with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is schematically illustrated inthe form of a block diagram the content forming apparatus to form acontent from a material including multiple video and/or audio data. Thecontent forming apparatus is generally indicated with a reference 1. Asshown, the content forming apparatus 1 includes an EPL maker 10 toproduce an edit procedure list (EPL) being a kind of edit decision list(EDL), an edit controller 20 to produce an edit control signal based onthe edit procedure list (will be referred to as “EPL” hereunder), and acontent maker 30 to form a content in a predetermined format.

[0088] As shown, a material including multiple video and/or audio datais supplied as an input to the content forming apparatus 1. It should benoted here that the material is a one stored in a data base connected toa local area network (LAN) or a network such as the Internet, forexample, for convenience of explanation. The material is supplied to theEPL maker 10 and content maker 30 via an input terminal IN.

[0089] In the EPL maker 10, a decoder 11 decodes the material, adown-converter 12 thins the decoded material, an encoder 13 compressesit by a compression method such as JPEG (Joint Photographic ExpertsGroup), MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) or the like to providehighly compressed sub materials, and a sub-material server 14 stores thesub materials. The sub-material server 14 is an AV server having a discarray-structured recorder/player to sequentially take in such highlycompressed sub materials, file the sub materials, and stores such a fileat a specified address in the recorder/player.

[0090] Then, the highly compressed sub material in each file stored inthe sub-material server 14 is supplied to each of multiple (three inthis embodiment) editing terminals 15, 16 and 17 connected to thesub-material server 14, and used to make an EPL.

[0091] The editing terminals 15, 16 and 17 form together the essentialpart of the EPL maker 10. They read out the highly compressed submaterials from an internal recording medium and decode them, anddisplay, on a monitor, a video reconstructed from the decoded materialdata. More specifically, the operator control the sub-material server 14via any one of the editing terminals to effect a desired operation(playback, rewind or fast forward, etc.) while visually checking a videodisplayed on the monitor, thus making an EPL. The EPL includesidentification information for identifying editing materials, and aformat declare statement for defining a format of at least a certainmaterial. It should be noted that the format declare statementspecifies, in detail, a time taken for capture of one frame, shutterspeed for capturing, effective pixel number, etc. The EPL including sucha format declare statement will be described in detail later.

[0092] The EPL formed by each of the editing terminals 15, 16 and 17 isstored into an EPL storage unit 18. The EPL stored in this EPL storageunit 18 is read out by the edit controller 20 which will produce an editcontrol signal based on the EPL and supply it to the content maker 30.

[0093] The content maker 30 forms, from the material, a content in apredetermined format of the material based on the edit control signalsupplied from the edit controller 20. The content maker 30 is suppliedwith an input material via the input terminal IN as above.

[0094] The content maker 30 stores the input material into a rawmaterial server 31. The raw material server 31 includes a discarray-structured recorder/player and an AV server, takes in multiplevideo and audio data which is a specified one of supplied raw materialsat the same time, file the video and audio data, and stores such a fileat a specified address in the recorder/player.

[0095] The raw material server 31 reads out the raw material from eachfile stored in the recorder/player based on the edit control signalsupplied from the edit controller 20, and supplies it to an editor 32connected to the raw material server 31.

[0096] The editor 32 includes multiple (two in this embodiment) decoders33 and 34, a switcher/effector 35 which is the essential part of theeditor 32, and an encoder 36. The raw materials decoded by the decoders33 and 34 are edited by the switcher/effector 35 on the basis of theedit control signal supplied from the edit controller 20, and suppliedto the encoder 36. The encoder 36 encodes data having been edited in aformat based on the edit control signal supplied from the editcontroller 20, and then supplies it an output terminal OUT.

[0097] Supplied with two outputs, for example, of raw material from thedecoders 33 and 34 at the same time, the switcher/effector 35 in theeditor 32 uses the two raw material outputs to effect A/B roll edit,that is, switching and insertion using two signals or assembling on areal-time basis.

[0098] Next, the EPL (edit procedure list) created by the EPL maker 10will be described. In the EPL, there is stated identificationinformation for identifying editing materials. As identificationinformation on materials, a UMID (unique material identifier) is usedwhich is a globally unique material identification code.

[0099] A“UMID” is an identifier uniquely determined for identificationof video data, audio data and other material data. The identifierconsists of a globally unique identification code, and so it is called“globally unique identification information”. A UMID is already definedin the SMPTE-330M standard in which a method of automatically assigninga unique ID to a material to be recorded is set forth as a standard forcreation of a UMID.

[0100]FIG. 2 shows the data structure of a UMID.

[0101] The UMID is composed of a Basic UMID as ID information foridentification of material data, and an Extended UMID as a signature foridentification of each of contents in material data.

[0102] The Basic UMID is composed of a 32-byte data area consisting of a12-byte Universal Label area, 1-byte Length Value area, 3-byte InstanceNumber area, and a 16-byte Material Number area.

[0103] In the Universal Label area, there is stored a code to identifythat a digital data string following the Universal Label area is a UMID.The Length Value area indicates the length of the UMID. Since the BasicUMID and Extended UMID are different in code length from each other, theBasic UMID is indicated with 13 h while the Extended UMID is indicatedwith 33 h. The Instance Number area indicates whether the material datahas undergone any overwrite or edit. The Material Number area has threesub-areas each having stored therein a code created by the globally usedalgorithm as defined in SMPTE-330M standard.

[0104] One of the sub-areas of the Material Number area is “Time Snap”of 4 bytes, indicating a number of snap clock samples a day. A time orthe like at which material data has been created is indicated in clocks.The second one of the sub-areas is “Rnd (Random Number)” of 8 bytes,showing a random number intended to avoid any double numbering when anyincorrect time has been set or when the network address of an apparatusdefined in the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers) has been changed for example. The third sub-area is “Machinenode” as shown in FIG. 2.

[0105] On the other hand, the Extended UMID is composed of an 8-byteTime/Date Code for identification of a time and date at which thematerial has been created, a 12-byte Spatial Coordinates for defining acorrection of the time at which the material has been created (timedifference information) and positional information indicated with alatitude, longitude and altitude, a 4-byte Alphanumeric Code (Country)for defining the name of a country (as abbreviated) with characters likean alphabet and symbols, a 4-byte Alphanumeric Code (Organization) fordefining the name of an organization (as abbreviated) with characterslike an alphabet and symbols, and 4-byte Alphanumeric Code (used) fordefining the name of a user having created the material.

[0106] Here, The EPL (Edit Procedure List) created by the EPL maker 10will be described again.

[0107] For the EPL, there is an identification code for identifying amethod of processing a material, namely, an identification codeindicating an image processing method, according to the aforementionedidentification code system. The identification code for identifying thematerial processing method is also a globally unique identificationcode, called “process ID” or “unique transform ID (UTID)”. Operationssuch as fade, mix, superimpose or the like can be identified with aUTID. Meta data concerning an output is also stated in the EPL. The UTIDis an ID of a result of editing by the EPL and includes a UMID as well.Further, a Time Code (TC) indicating each of edit-in and edit-out with atime, for example, is also stated in the EPL. It should be noted thatthe meta data is generally data management information such asattribute, semantic content, source from which the data has beenacquired (data source), output destination to which the data is to beprovided (data destination), etc. of data.

[0108] Further, in the EPL, there is further stated a format declarestatement which defines a format of at least a certain material. Theformat declare statement includes an image format of an input videomaterial and/or an image format of an edit output. Thus, a contentformed by the content forming apparatus 1 will take a format declared bythe format declare statement. By declaring a format by the formatdeclare statement, a content of any format can be formed.

[0109] The minimum range of a time stated in one EPL file is a framewhile the maximum range is limitless. A time is stated in an ordercorresponding to the order of processes such as editing, encoding, etc.and can be stated for simultaneous execution of multiple processes.

[0110] The EPL has not basically any variable. It includes only animperative statement (process and control), but not any description forfour operations of arithmetic and functional statement. Transfer ofimage data is not specified in the syntax of the EPL but an output of aprocess stated in an upper line is only entered into a process stated ina lower line.

[0111] The above EPL editing is different from the conventional one inthe following respects. That is, when an EPL is completed, the editingis regarded as having been complete. The aforementioned highlycompressed sub materials are often edited. A complete package (videomaterial provided by processing subtitle characters and sounds andfinished to such an extent that it can be broadcast as it is) obtainedby the EPL editing is momentarily formed when it is actually used(broadcasted, for example). Basically, there exists no complete package.Also, an identification code is assigned to each of materials such as asource material, edit-result material, etc. and processes for specialeffects, and it is indispensably stated in the EPL. Also, an imagerepresented by the EPL (edit-result material) is a material and can becited from any other EPL. Further, a detailed image construction, imageformat and general material format are stated in the EPL. Even when anyimage of a desired image can be obtained, however, an alternate image,if any, may be edited by converting. For example, an image of SD(standard definition) can be edited by converting it to an image of HD(high definition).

[0112] A concrete example of EPL will be described herebelow. Prior tostarting the explanation of an example of EPL statement, a concreteexample of editing/edit result will be described , and then an EPL foracquisition of such an edit result be described.

[0113]FIG. 3 shows forming of an edit-result material ED by editingmultiple (three, for example) source materials SC1 to SC3, as a concreteexample of editing/edit result. In the example shown in FIG. 3, twomain-part cuts CU1 and CU2 are clipped the source material SC1, arecollection scene is clipped from the source material SC2 and insertedbetween the main-part cuts CU1 and CU2, and a source material SC3 isadded as a title material to the top of a result of the insertion andaddition to produce the edit-result material ED.

[0114] That is, as in the concrete example shown in FIG. 3, theedit-result material ED includes, starting at the top position thereofor a time code “00:00:00.00”, the source material SC3 as a titlematerial, extending to a time code “00:00:05.00”, the title materialbeing caused to fade out at a time code “00:00”04.00”; the main-part cutCU1 following the title material to be faded out and starting at a timecode “02:10:00.00” being an edit cut-in (IN) of the source material SC1to a time code “02:10:20.00”; the recollection scene extending from atime code “06:54:32.10” being an edit cut-in (IN) of the source materialSC2; and the main-part cut CU2 starting at a time code “02:10:20.00” ofthe source material SC2 and laid between time codes “00:00:35.00” and“00:01:00.02” of the edit-result material ED, in this order. In theconcrete example, the source material SC1 is an HD (high definition)video material embedded in the EPL file, for example, and the sourcematerial SC2 is an SD (standard definition) video material availablefrom a source specified with an address or the like in an externalserver via a pass in the editing system or a network, for example, andwhich has been up-converted to an HD video data and converted to amonochromic image. That is, in the concrete example of the editing shownin FIG. 3, an external SD image (525i) is converted into a monochromicimage, inserted as a recollection scene into the embedded images and atitle is added to the image. During the editing, however, no edit-resultmaterial is formed but completion of an EPL is regarded as ending of theediting procedure and a video content which will be an edit-resultmaterial is formed based on the EPL.

[0115]FIG. 4 shows, as an image, a content forming according to thedescriptive content of such an EPL, namely, forming of the edit-resultmaterial ED shown in FIG. 3.

[0116] As shown in FIG. 4, a material storage unit 40 has the sourcematerial SC1 stored therein, and materials 43 and 44 having been clippedas the main-part cuts CU1 and CU2 out of the source material SC1 aresent to an adder 42. The source material SC2 is acquired via a network46 and stored into a material storage unit 47. The recollection scene isread and converted by an up-conversion unit 48 into an HD (highdefinition) image, and by a monochromic image converter 49 into amonochromic image which is taken as a resultant material 50 to be sentto the adder 42. Also, the source material SC3 is acquired by a network52 and stored into a material storage unit 53. A material 54 down to theportion to be faded out is sent to an adder 57. The portion to be fadedout is read and undergoes a fade-out process in a fade-out processor 55to provide a material 56 which will be sent to the adder 57. An outputof the adder 57 is sent to the adder 42. When the above series ofoperations is done based on the EPL, the adder 42 will provide theedit-result material ED shown in FIG. 3. The edit-result material ED hasnot to be preformed and stored but may be formed based on the EPL whenactually required (for broadcasting or the like), as having previouslybeen described.

[0117] Next, an example statement of an EPL being a list intended toform the aforementioned edit-result material (content) will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIGS. 5 and 6 show the same EPLstatement but FIG. 6 includes concrete examples of UMID, UTID and URL toshown the format declare statement in more detail than that in FIG. 5.Lines in FIG. 5 will be explained one by one, referring to the concreteexamples in FIG. 6 as necessary and in connection with each portion ofthe image of the content forming in FIG. 4.

[0118] In FIG. 5, an underscored “epl” (1-1) in line 1 indicates that“epl” is followed by the unit of EPL in parentheses, and defines anoutput image. It indicates an image to be provided as an output. In thesame line, an image ID of the image output (edit-result material ED) isstated in an underscored (1-2), and “umid” in FIG. 5 indicates that theUMID (globally unique identification code) is used as an ID for theoutput image. The UMID has a 32-byte data area as having been describedwith reference to FIG. 2. In FIG. 6, an underscored portion (1-2)indicates “02232203_(—)824504F1_(—)0800468A92000201” as a concreteexample of the UMID. In FIG. 5, underscored portions (1-3) and (1-4) ofthe line 1 indicate an edit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT), respectively,of an editing. In this embodiment, they indicate a time code of astarting frame and a one of an ending frame, respectively. Namely, theedit cut-in is “00:00:00.00” while the edit cut-out is “00:01:00:02” inthis embodiment. An underscored portion (1-5) of the same line (line 1in FIG. 5) indicates a scan format defining, in detail, the statement ofa video signal to deal with. Namely, it is a format declare statement ashaving been described above. It is the video format of an edit output inthis embodiment. For example, “#1080i” in FIG. 5 indicates a videoformat of an HD (high definition) image. The format declare statement isstated like a portion (25-1) and subsequent portions in FIG. 6, forexample, which will be described in detail later. In the same line (line1 in FIG. 5), an underscored brace “{” (1-6) is in pair with anunderscored brace “}” (23-1) in line 23. An image processing is statedin a range defined between parentheses “{” and “}” according to a flowof signals. In the range defined by braces, multiple processes statedbetween the braces are sequentially conducted in a one-to-oneinput-output relation.

[0119] An underscored “source” (2-1) in line 2 in FIG. 5 indicates asource material to be edited (input material), and is followed by inputmaterial specifying information in parentheses. An image ID for theinput material is stated in parentheses in an underscored portion (2-2)in the same line, and “umid” in FIG. 5 indicates that the aforementionedUMID is used as an input ID. In FIG. 6, a concrete example of the UMIDis indicated as an underscored“22083102_(—)95440497_(—)0800468A62000232” (2-2). In an underscoredportion (2-3) of the same line, there is to be stated a time code for astarting frame. In FIG. 5, however, no such a time code is stated in acorresponding underscored portion (2-3), which means that the sourcestarts from the first frame. In an underscored portion (2-4) of the sameline, there is stated a source from which the input material (sourcematerial) is acquired, namely, a location where the material is stored.In the example in FIG. 5, “#embedded. mpg” indicates that the materialis embedded in the EPL file. In an underscored portion (2-5) of the sameline, there is stated a scan format, a kind of format declare statementas mentioned above. In the example in FIG. 5, it is indicated that thevideo format of the input material is “#1080i”, that is, a video formatof the HD (high definition) image. Namely, an image format of the inputmaterial is identified by the format declare statement. As abovementioned, an input material (source material SC1 in FIG. 3) can be readfrom the material storage unit 40 (in FIG. 4) connected to the networkof the editing system based on the statements in the underscoredportions (2-1) to (2-5) of the line 2.

[0120] An underscored “fork” (3-1) in line 3 in FIG. 5 is in pair withan underscored “join” (22-1) in line 22 and indicates that multipleprocesses included in a range from “fork” to “join” are done in parallelwith an input 1 and “join” means that outputs from the processes areadded together. The multiple processes are ones effected within a rangedefined between a code 41 and adder 42 in FIG. 4, and effected inparallel with the input 1 from the material storage unit 40 and outputsfrom the processes are added together by the adder 42. The processes tobe done are indicated in lines 4 and 5.

[0121] An underscored “@” (4-1) of line 4 indicates, by a parenthesizedfigure following it, indicates that a to-be-clipped portion of the inputsource material (source material SC1) is specified by a time code alongthe time axis at the input side (source material side). An edit cut-in(IN) is indicated in parentheses in an underscored portion (4-2) of thesame line. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the portion to be clipped isindicated by a time code “02:10:00.00” along the time axis at the inputside(source material side). An underscored “put” (4-3) in the same lineindicates, in the following parentheses, a position where the portionclipped from the input material is to be pasted, by a time code alongthe time axis at the output side (edit-result material side). In thisexample, as indicated in parentheses in underscored portions (4-4) and(4-5), a portion having been clipped at a time code “00:05.00” at theoutput side is pasted at a time code “00:25.00”. Namely, the material 43in FIG. 4, having been clipped from a position specified with a timecode “02:10:00.00” along the time axis at the input side is pasted asthe main-part cut CU1 between the time codes “00:05.00” and “00:25.00”.

[0122] An underscored “@” (5-1) in line 5 also indicates, by aparenthesized figure following it, indicates that a to-be-clippedportion is specified by a time code along the time axis at the inputside (source material side). A time code “02:10:20.00” along the timeaxis at the input side is indicated in parentheses in an underscoredportion (5-2) of the same line. An underscored “put” (5-3) in the sameline also indicates that in parentheses, a position where the portionhaving been clipped from the input material is specified by a time codealong the time axis at the output side. In this example, as indicated inunderscored portions (5-4) and (5-5), the clipped portion is pasted attime codes “00:35.00” and “01:00.02”. Namely, the material 44 in FIG. 4,having been obtained, by clipping, from a position specified by a timecode along the time axis at the input side, is pasted as the main-partcut CU2 at the time codes “00:35.00” an d“01:00.02”.

[0123] Next, an underscored brace “{” (6-1) in line 6 is in pair with anunderscored brace “}” (11-1) in line 11, indicating that multipleprocesses stated within a range defined by the braces are sequentiallydone starting with the uppermost line in a one-to-one input-outputrelation. This procedure corresponds to a process 45 in FIG. 4.

[0124] Next, an underscored “source” (7-1) in line 7 indicates an inputmaterial, and is followed by input material specifying information inparentheses. An underscored “umid” (7-2) in the same line indicates theaforementioned UMID. A concrete example of“22083102_(—)95440497_(—)0800468A62000232” will be shown in FIG. 6. Anunderscored “06:54:32.10” (7-3) in the same line indicate the time codeof an edit cut-in (IN). An underscored “url” (7-4) in the same lineindicates, by a so-called URL (Uniform Resource Locator), a source fromwhich a material is acquired, that is, a location where the materials isstored. As a concrete example, a URL address “ftp://43.14.61.62/source/”is shown in FIG. 6. An underscored portion (7-5) in the same lineindicates a scan format, a kind of format declare statement. “#525i” inthe example in FIG. 5 indicates that the input material (source materialSC2 in FIG. 3) is in the video format of SD (standard definition) image.The format declare statement is stated as in an underscored portion(27-1) in FIG. 6 for example, but it will be described in detail later.According to the statements made in the underscored portions (7-1) to(7-5) in the line 7, the input material (source material SC2) whosevideo format is “#525i” is read via the network 46 in the process 45 inFIG. 4 and stored into the material storage unit 47 in FIG. 4. Anunderscored portion (7-6) in the same line indicates a comment toindicate for which scene the source material is to be used. Theunderscored “//recollect” in the example in FIG. 5 indicates a“recollection scene”.

[0125] Next, an underscored “transform” (8-1) in line 8 indicates thatan image processing stated in the following parentheses is to be done.An underscored “utid” (8-2) in the same line indicates a process ID,namely, a globally unique image transform (UTID). In FIG. 6,“12000000000090001” is indicated as a concrete example of the UTID. Anunderscored “url” (8-3) in the same line indicates a location from whicha transform method is to be acquired, namely, a location from which atransform method specified by the above UTID is to be acquired. In FIG.6, a URL address like “ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” is indicated as aconcrete example of the location from which the transform method is tobe acquired. An underscored “upconv525to1080” (8-4) in the same lineindicates an alias of the transform method. When the transform methodcannot be acquired from the location from which it is to be acquired, asimilar transform is enabled alternatively. In the example, the aliasindicates an up-conversion from 525 lines to 1080 lines. An underscored“#1080i” (8-5) in the same line indicates an output video format, a kindof format declare statement. When the output image format is the same asthe input video format included in the image transform, it may beomitted. The statements in the underscored portions (8-1) to (8-5) inline 8 make it possible to specify an up-conversion of an input materialstored in the material storage unit 47 in FIG. 4 and whose video formatis “#525i” by an up-conversion unit 48 to the video format “#1080i” inthe process 45 in FIG. 4.

[0126] Next, an underscored “transform” (9-1) in line 9 indicates animage transform specified in the following parentheses.“120000000001F0001” is indicated in FIG. 6 as a concrete example of anunderscored “utid” (9-2) in the same line. An underscored “url” (9-3) inthe same line specifies a location where the transform method is stored(e.g., URL address). A URL address “ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” of alocation from which the transform method is to be acquired is indicatedas a concrete example in FIG. 6. An underscored “monochrome” (9-4) inthe same line indicates an alias, indicating a process to transform aninput image (output image from the up-conversion unit 48 in FIG. 4) to amonochromic image. It should be noted that in this example, theunderscored “#1080i” (8-5) in the preceding line is omitted. When thepre-conversion image is the same as the post-conversion one, the videoformat can be omitted. According to the statements in the underscoredportions (9-1) to (9-4) in the line 9, the image having undergone theup-conversion by the up-conversion unit 48 to the video format “#1080i”,as a result of the process 45 in FIG. 4, is made a monochromic image bythe monochromic image converter 49.

[0127] Next, an underscored “put” (10-1) in line 10 indicates that inthe following parentheses, there is specified a position wherein amonochromic image is synthesized (or inserted) along the time axis atthe output side. According to underscored portions (10-2) and (10-3) ofthe same line, the monochromic image is laid time codes “00:25.00” and“00:35.00” along the time axis at the output side (at the side of theedit-result material ED in FIG. 3). This is the insertion of theaforementioned recollection scene.

[0128] Next, an underscored brace “{” (12-1) in line 12 is pair with anunderscored brace “}” (21-1) in line 21, indicating that multipleprocesses stated in the braces are sequentially done in one-to-oneinput-output relation. This process is included in processes 51 in FIG.4.

[0129] Next, an underscored “source” (13-1) in line 13 is to specify aninput material, and a statement made in parentheses following the“source” specifies an input material. An underscored “umid” (13-2) inthe same line indicates, in the parentheses, that UMID is to be used. Asa concrete example, “00000000_(—)8244041D_(—)0800468A940000522” is shownin FIG. 6. An underscored “00:00:00.00” (13-3) in the same lineindicates a time code for an edit cut-in frame (IN). An underscored“url” (13-4) in the same line indicates a source from which an image isto be acquired. A URL address like “ftp://43.14.61.62/source/*.jpg”shown in FIG. 6 is used as a concrete example. An underscored “#1080i”(13-5) in the same line specifies a video format of an input material ashaving been described above. With the statements made in the underscoredportions (13-1) to (13-5) in the line 13, it is possible to specify oneof the processes 51 in FIG. 4 to read an input material whose videoformat is “#1080i” via the network 52 and store it into the materialstorage unit 53 in FIG. 4. An underscored portion (13-6) of the sameline is a comment part indicating for what scene the source is to beused. In the example in FIG. 5, the underscored portion (13-6) indicatesthat the source is to be used as “//title”, namely, a title.

[0130] Next, an underscored “fork” (14-1) in line 14 is in pair with anunderscored “join” (20-1) in line 20, indicating that multiple processesstated between the “fork” and “join” are done in parallel with aninput 1. The “join” indicates that outputs are added together. Thiscorresponds to a process, in FIG. 4, in which a material read from thematerial storage unit 53 is processed in 2 systems and outputs from thesystems are added together by the adder 57. The processes made in the 2systems are as follows.

[0131] First, an underscored “put” (15-1) in line 15 indicates that inthe following parentheses, a position where the title material 54 readfrom the material storage unit 53 is to be pasted (inserted) isspecified along the time axis at the output side. The parenthesizedunderscored portions (15-2) and (15-3) in the same line indicate thepaste process between time codes “00:00.00” and “00:04.00”.

[0132] Next, an underscored “{” (16-1) in line 16 is in pair with anunderscored “}” (19-1) in line 19, indicating that multiple processesstated between the braces are sequentially done in a one-to-oneinput-output relation. This corresponds to a process for acquisition ofthe material 54 as in FIG. 4.

[0133] An underscored “transform” (17-1) in line 17 indicates that inthe following parentheses, an image transform process is specified. Anunderscored “utid” (17-2) in the same line indicates that theaforementioned UTID is used as a code for identification of a process.In FIG. 6, “1200000000080001” is shown as a concrete example of theUTID. An underscored “url” (17-3) in the same line is specifically“ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” as shown in FIG. 3. An underscored “fadeout”(17-4) in the same line indicates a fade-out process. In an underscoredportion (17-5) of the same line, an output video format is omitted sincethe output video format is similar to an input video format. Anunderscored “1.0” (17-6) in the same line specifies an inherent factorsfor which inherent settings required for the fade-out process areenumerated. According to the statements made in the underscored portions(17-1) to (17-6) of line 17, one of the processes 51 in FIG. 4 can beeffected to fade out the input material whose video format is “#1080i”supplied from the material storage unit 53 by the fade-out processor 55.

[0134] Next, an underscored “put” (18-1) in line 18 indicates that inthe following parentheses, a position where an output material 56 fromthe fade-out processor 55 in FIG. 4 is to be pasted (inserted) isspecified along the time axis at the output side (edit-result materialED in FIG. 3). In the parenthesized underscored portions (18-2) and(18-3) of the same line, there is specified a process for pasting(inserting) the portion to be faded out between time codes “00:04.00”and “00:05.00” at the output side.

[0135] Then, the tile material 54 and fade-out output material 56 areadded together (combined) by the adder 57 to provide a resultant outputto the adder 42. As shown in FIG. 3, the adder 42 takes in the main-partcut CU1 subsequently to the title to be faded out, and then themain-part cut CU2 between the main-part cut CU1 and the monochromicrecollection scene, to provide an edit-result material.

[0136] Next, the lower portion of FIG. 6 will be described. Anunderscored “format” (25-1) indicates a format statement, specifying thevideo format in detail in the following parentheses. An underscored“1001/60000” (25-2) and underscored “1080/59.94i” (26-1) indicate actualvalues of items and parameters included in the video formatspecification, and underscored “Capturing interval (long/long) [s]”(25-3) and “//Name of format (char)” (26-2) indicate item names in thespecification as a comment.

[0137] Also, an underscored “format” (27-1) indicates a formatstatement, specifying the image format in detail in the followingparentheses. An underscored “1001/60000” (27-2), “480/59.94i” (28-1),etc. indicate actual values of items and parameters included in theimage format specification, and underscored “Capturing interval(long/long) [s]” (27-3), “//Name of format (char)” (28-2), etc. indicateitem names in the specification as a comment, as in the above.

[0138] In the EPL shown in FIG. 6, an underscored “image” (29-1)specifies an embedded image data in detail. A parenthesized underscoredportion (29-2) indicates a number of bytes in a binary part. The numberof bytes is (bit+7)*8/8 in this example. An underscored portion (29-3)indicates the name of the image data in the file, and the name is“embedded” in this example. An underscored “binary data . . . ” (29-4)specifies a data body.

[0139] The concrete example of EPL has been described in the foregoing.

[0140] Normally, an EPL is processed as a string of characters by aninterpreter. Also, data in the EPL are edited as a string of characters.When the data are compiled, the EPL will be a unique code for acompilation apparatus, and so it will not be defined in a data formatfor the apparatus. To compress data for storage or the like, a losslesscompression (such as Huffman code of zip, LHA, etc.) is used.

[0141] Also, a UMID is an identification code defined in theaforementioned SMPTE330M. As a UMID of EPL in this embodiment, 32 bytesof the aforementioned Basic UMID can be used for example. However, only16 bytes of a material number with a universal label, instance, etc.omitted may be used as the UMID of EPL. An output image is created as aresult of editing, but image data having been resulted from creation ofan EPL is regarded as a material and added to the output image.

[0142] Data can be notated in hex (hexadecimal), and arbitrarilyunderscored (underscore ‘_’) to be highly visible. Parenthesized dataindicates a processed image, not any material itself. A source fromwhich data is to be acquired (source or argument of transform)identifies a location of the data with a top one of characters in astring. When a UMID is pre-registered in a data base, no data source maybe stated.

[0143] A time code TC is stated in a common form ofhours:minutes:seconds.Frame, and unnecessary upper digits can beomitted. At the input side, there is stated solely a time code for anedit cut-in (IN) while at the output side, there are stated time codes(TC) for both edit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT). At the output side,“put( )” is used to state an insertion position, but if the “put( )” isomitted, the time code will apply to a whole content specified by “epl()”.

[0144] Using an argument in “source( )” or “@( )”, there is stated atthe input side a source from which data is to be clipped. For a cutediting, it is of course necessary to state time codes (TC) for bothedit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT). Time codes (TC) at the input sidemay be omitted when they have not to be specified, namely, for effectsfor example.

[0145] Image data transferred from an upper line to a lower line isR/G/B/tl or Y/Pb/Pr/tl. In case the chrominance of Y range is 4:2:2, forexample, Y, tl, Pb, Pr, Y and tl are repeated from a left upper pixel.Also, an image data is passed through a narrower path than a total bitwidth specified with “format{ }”, it is plugged in on an LSB firstbasis.

[0146] A “tl” (“translucence” ) is also called “α value” in the fieldsof image synthesis and computer graphics. In each Y range, a normalimage has a value of 0 (opaque). The translucence (tl) is used only inthe middle of a process, but not included in any normal “epl( )”execution output signal.

[0147] The data format of an input image is identified by a fileextension. However, the file extension may be omitted. For example,“epi” stands for EPL file. Also, “eiv” stands for EPLL intermediatevideo. “ybr” stands for Y/Pb/Pr. “rgb” stands for Red/Green/Blue. “jpg”stands for JPEG wp. Also, “mpg” stands for “MPEG1”.

[0148] As above, there are available various data formats for an inputimage. Of them, however, the above mentioned ones and all MPEG2 profilesare normally supported in the present invention. For any compressionother than the standard one, “transform( )” is stated just after“source( )” to specify an expansion.

[0149] The above “eiv” is a non-compressed data including up to atranslucence (tl) (or a value) with “format{ } header”. The “eiv” willoccur if “plug( )” is executed while not being canceled by optimization.Normally, the “eiv” is managed according to the UMID, and no file nameis stated in the EPL. Therefore, “wild card‘*’” is used to state anextension.

[0150] Note that since an output image is supplied solely to a monitoror broadcasting encoder, only “non-compress” is stated. However, it canbe defined by stating “transform( )” in the last line of “epl( )”whether an intended process is “compress” or “non-compress”.

[0151] Next, a video scan format to be stated in EPL will be described.

[0152] With the capability and versatility taken in consideration, thedetails of the specification will be explained fully. Namely, “NTSC”will be stated along with “720×480”, “60/1.001”, “colorimetry”, . . .

[0153] Concerning the capability, however, the concepts of the pixel andframe are strictly held solely in a range of the raster scanning. Thatis, the video format included in the present invention is a generalizedrepresentation of a raster video format.

[0154] For stating the raster video format as a “format{ }” statement inEPL, it is stated with an ASCII character string as will be seen fromthe following example. For including it in a video signal, a specifieddata type of “binary 128 bytes” is put at each clip. Capturing intervalTime for capture of one frame long/long [s] Shutter speed Shutter speedfor capturing float [s] Shutter timing Time when shutter is opened float[s] Display interval Time for display of one frame long/long [s] RGB onchromaticity Coordinates of primary colors fixed × 2 × 4 and while onchromaticity chart Matrix coefficients Matrix for conversion to fixed ×9 Y/Pb/Pr Gamma code Code for gamma conversion char Interlace code Codefor interlacing char Padding Adjustment of byte number char × 4 Picturesize Numbers of effective pixels, short*short vertical and horizontalActive size Range except for solid short*short area Clean aperture Rangein which image quality short*short is warranted Pixel aspect ratioAspect ratio of each pixel float Luminance offset Position at whichluminance float × 2 process is stared Chrominance offset Position atwhich float × 2 chrominance process is started Luminance pitch Thinningof luminance char × 2 pixel Chrominance pitch Thinning of chrominancechar × 2 pixel Bit switch Data bit width of Y/Pb/Pr/tl char × 4 Y rangeWhite of 100% luminance short × 2 and black of 0% luminance Other rangeMaximum and minimum short × 2 values of other than luminance Name offormat Alias of format char × 16

[0155] where “long”, “short” and “char” are unassigned integers of 4, 2and 1 bytes, respectively. “fixed” is a fixed point of 2 bytes and“0×7fff” is regarded as “1”. 0×0001 approximates 0.00003. Also, “float”is solely of a positive value for all items but it is a normal IBMfloating point of 4 bytes.

[0156] The translucence (tl) is used only in the middle of a process,and not included in any normal “epl( )” execution output signal. A gammacode may be represented by a coefficient (0.018, 4.5, 1.099, 0.45,0.099) similarly to the other items, but it is actually used in aconversion table. A chrominance may be either 2's complement or offsetbinary and it is represented by a magnitude of its range.

[0157]FIG. 7 shows a concrete example of the video scan format statementconcerning (1080/59.95i). Various items in the detailed specification inFIG. 7 are as have been described above.

[0158] As having been described in the foregoing, in the content formingapparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, a UMID (unique material identifier) foridentification of an editing material and output, a UTID foridentification of a processing method, and also a scan format foridentification of the format of an input material and output, are statedin an EPL. Thus, since a material can be acquired based on its ID informing a content, it is possible during editing not to transmit anylarge volume of image data at a high rate. Also, by acquiring a materialwhen it becomes necessary to actually form a content as an edit resultfor broadcasting or the like, copyright protection and billing can bemade. Since a processing method can be cited based on its ID, anyediting environment (abilities and functions of the equipment) will do.Also, copyright protection and billing can be made for the processingmethod itself. Also, any input material can freely be selected. Also,outputs in multiple formats can be acquired simultaneously. Also, sincean EPL is made at a low level of image quality, it can be made in anyplace and environment.

[0159] Since the EPL maker 10 inside the content forming apparatus 1makes an EPL by the edit decision listing method having been describedconcerning the embodiment of the present invention, an edit decisionlist for forming a content is made with prevention of image datadegradation, supporting multiple image data formats, having not to poolany material once on hand and with capability of switching processesfrom one to another.

[0160] Next, there will be described a content forming system in whichmultiple groups distributed at several locations share the work ofmaking an EPL to edit a content. Since any material is not directlyprocessed in the edit procedure using the EPL, the multiple groupsdistributed at several locations can share the work of editing acontent.

[0161]FIG. 8 is a general block diagram of a content forming system. Thecontent forming system is generally indicated with a reference 60. Inthe content forming system 60, each of a material editing group 66,edit-result storing/retrieving group 74 and an edit-result utilizinggroup 82 has a LAN (local area network), and the LANs are connected toeach other to form a first editing group. Also, each of a computergraphic processing group 93, closed-caption processing group 102 andlocal station 111 has a LAN, and the LANs are connected to each other toform a second editing group.

[0162] In the above content forming system 60, a material file 64including video and/or audio data picked up by a video camera 61 issupplied to the material editing group 66 in the first editing group viaan external network 63 such as the Internet.

[0163] First, the material editing group 66 included in the firstediting group will be described. The material editing group 66 isprovided inside gates 65, 89 and 73, and includes two computer terminals67 and 68, material server (O) 69, decoder/encoder (D) 70, onlineediting intra-frame server (I) 71, and an EPL server (E) 72. Theintra-frame server (I) 71 corresponds to the sub-material server 14 inFIG. 1, and can acquire each frame image without reference to any otherframe.

[0164] Using the computer terminal 67 or 68, the operator of thematerial editing group 66 downloads the material file 64 from a storagelocation or video camera 61 via the external network 63 and stores itinto the material server 69 and intra-frame server 71.

[0165] The material file 61 is stored as the highly compressed submaterial into the intra-frame server 71 as having previously beendescribed. More specifically, a material stored in the material file 64is sent to the decoder/encoder 70 where it will be decoded. The decodedmaterial is then thinned, and undergoes an encoding (intra-framecompression) to provide a highly compressed sub material. The submaterial is stored into the intra-frame server 71. These components ofthe content forming system 60 corresponds to the decoder 11,down-converter 12, encoder 13 and sub-material server 14 in FIG. 1.

[0166] Each of the above two computer terminals 67 and 68 also functionas an editing terminal shown in FIG. 1. Namely, it reads out the submaterial from the intra-frame server 71, decodes it and displays, on amonitor, a video based on the decoded data. At this time, the operatoroperates the computer terminal to make an EPL while controlling theintra-frame server 71 to make a desired operation (play, rewind or fastforward) and visually checking the video displayed on the monitor. TheEPL includes identification information for identifying an editingmaterials and outputs as above and a format specification for defining aformat of at least a certain material.

[0167] The EPL thus made is stored into the EPL server 72. The Eplstored in the EPL server 72 is read out by each of the groups includesin the first and second editing groups to share the work of editing acontent. It should be noted that the EPL server 72 generally correspondsto the EPL storage unit 18 in FIG. 1.

[0168] Next, the edit-result storing/retrieving group 74 will bedescribed. The edit-result storing/retrieving group 74 is providedinside the gates 73 and 81, and includes two computer terminals 75 and76, material server (O) 77, decoder/encoder (D) 78, offline editingintra-frame server (I) 79, and an EPL server (E) 80 as shown in FIG. 8.

[0169] The edit-result storing/retrieving group 74 takes out the EPLfrom the EPL server 72 and stores it into the EPL server 80 to form aprovisional content by effecting an editing based on the stored EPL andstore the provisional content. Thus, the content forming system 60 isdesigned to store a necessary edit-result as a material. Also, it canretrieve the EPL and edit-result.

[0170] Next, the edit-result utilizing group 82 will be described. Theedit-result utilizing group 82 is provided between the gate 81 andtransmission side, and includes two computer terminals 83 and 84,material server (O) 85, EPL server (E) 86, transmissiondecoder/switcher/effector 87, and a medium decoder/switcher/effector 88as shown in FIG. 8.

[0171] The edit-result utilizing group 82 takes out the EPL from the EPLserver 72, and stores it into the EPL server 86. Using the computerterminals 83 and 84 corresponding to the edit controller 20 in FIG. 1,the operator forms a content based on the stored EPL by the use ofmaterials stored in the material server 85. The edit-result utilizinggroup 82 sends the content from the transmissiondecoder/switcher/effector 87 and medium decoder/switcher/effector 88,corresponding to the edit execution unit 32 in FIG. 1, and works as amedium to distribute the content.

[0172] The second editing group will be described. The second editinggroup is connected to the first editing group via an external network 90connected to the gates 89 and 92. An EPL can be transmitted and receivedin the form of a program folder 91 bidirectionally, namely, between thfirst and second editing groups.

[0173] The computer graphic processing group 93, closed-captionprocessing group 102 and local station 111 included in the secondediting group form together a group to share the work of making an EPL.

[0174] The description of the second editing group will begin with thecomputer graphic processing group 93. As shown, the computer graphicprocessing group 93 includes two computer terminals 94 and 95, materialserver (O) 96, decoder/encoder (D) 97, offline editing intra-frameserver (I) 98, EPL server (E) 99, and a computer graphic server (CG) 100as shown in FIG. 8. The intra-frame server 98 corresponds to thesub-material server 14 in FIG. 1.

[0175] The operator of the computer graphic processing group 93downloads an EPL in the form of a program folder from the EPL server 72in the material editing group 66, and stores it into the EPL server 99.A material used in the compute graphic processing is stored as a highlycompressed material by the decoder/encoder 97 into the intra-frameserver 98. Operating the computer terminal 94 or 95, the operatorcontrols the computer graphic server (CG) 100 to make an EPL by makingCG (computer graphics) processing of a sub material read out from theintra-frame server 98 while viewing it on the monitor. The EPL thus madeis stored into the EPL server 99 and sent in the form of a programfolder to the EPL server 72 of the material editing group 66.

[0176] Next, the closed-caption processing group 102 will be explained.As shown in FIG. 8, the closed-caption processing group 102 includes twocomputer terminals 103 and 104, material server (O) 105, decoder/encoder(D) 106, offline editing intra-frame server (I) 107, EPL server (E) 108and a closed-caption server (CC) 109.

[0177] The operator of the closed-caption processing group 102 uses thecomputer terminal 103 or 104 to download an EPL in the form of a programfolder from the EPL server 72 of the material editing group 66, andstores it into the EPL server 108. A material used in the closed-captionprocessing is stored as a highly compressed material by thedecoder/encoder 105 into the intra-frame server 107. Operating thecomputer terminal 103 or 104, the operator controls the closed-captionserver (CC) 109 to make an EPL by making CC processing of a sub materialread out from the intra-frame server 107 and viewing it on the monitor.The EPL thus made is stored into the EPL server 108 while being sent inthe form of a program folder to the EPL server 72 in the materialediting group 66.

[0178] Next, the local station 111 will be explained. As shown, thelocal station 111 includes two computer terminals 112 and 113, materialserver (O) 114, decoder/encoder (D) 115, offline editing intra-frameserver (I) 116, EPL server (E) 117 and a district-unique information(DI) server 118.

[0179] The operator of the local station 111 downloads an EPL in theform of a program folder from the EPL server 72 of the material editinggroup 66, and stores it into the EPL server 117. A material used inediting in the local station is stored as a highly compressed materialby the decoder/encoder 115 into the intra-frame server 116. Operatingthe computer terminal 112 or 113, the operator uses the district-uniqueinformation (DI) server 118 to make an EPL while making unique editingof a sub material read from the intra-frame server 116 and viewing it onthe monitor. The EPL thus made is stored into the EPL server 108 whilebeing sent in the form of a program folder to the EPL server 72 of thematerial editing group 66.

[0180] Then, finally in the material editing group 66, various EPLs inthe EPL server 72 are managed to integrate and optimize the EPLs. In theedit-result storing/retrieving group 74 and edit-result utilizing group82, an integrated and optimized EPL is used by the material editinggroup 66.

[0181] As having been described in the foregoing, in the content formingapparatus 60 shown in FIG. 8, a UMID (unique material identifier) foridentification of an editing material and output image, a UTID foridentification of a processing method, and also a scan format foridentification of the format of an input material and output image, arestated in an EPL. Thus, since a material can be acquired based on its IDin forming a content, it is possible during editing not to transmit anylarge volume of image data at a high rate. Also, by acquiring a materialwhen it becomes necessary to actually form a content as an edit resultfor broadcasting or the like, copyright protection and billing can bemade. Since a processing method can be cited based on its ID, anyediting environment (abilities and functions of the equipment) will do.Also, copyright protection and billing can be made for the processingmethod itself. Also, any input material can freely be selected. Also,outputs in multiple formats can be acquired simultaneously. Also, sincean EPL is made at a low level of image quality, it can be made in anyplace and environment. Also, since any material is not directlyprocessed in the edit procedure, the multiple groups distributed atdifferent locations can make their jobs simultaneously in editing acontent.

[0182] Next, a concrete example of EPL editing will be described withreference to FIGS. 9 to 16. In this example, after an EPL (1) is made bylogging an interview-record raw material, cut editing EPL (2-a), mosaicediting EPL (2-b), Japanese subtitle EPL (2-c) and an English subtitleEPL (2-d) are made in parallel. Finally, the EPLs are integrated andoptimized to make an EPL (3), and a content is formed as an edit-resultmaterial. It should be noted that in this example, “format{ }” andindividual processes similar in statement to each other are omitted.

[0183]FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a content forming system120 in which an EPL is made by multiple editing units sharing the workof editing. A material including video and/or audio data captured by avideo camera 121 is logged by a logging unit 122 to make an EPL (1). TheEPL (1) is used simultaneously by a cutting editing unit 123, mosaicediting unit 124, Japanese subtitle editing unit 125 and an Englishsubtitle editing unit 126 to make the cut editing EPL (2-a), mosaicediting EPL (2-b), Japanese subtitle editing EPL (2-c) and Englishsubtitle editing EPL (2-d), respectively. Of course, each of the loggingunit 122, cutting editing unit 123, mosaic editing unit 124, Japanesesubtitle editing unit 125 and English subtitle editing unit 126 has asimilar construction and function to those of the EPL maker 10 in FIG.1.

[0184] There is also provided a Japanese/English subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit 127 to integrate and optimize the EPLs(2-a), (2-b), (2-c) and (2-d) from the editing units to produce an EPL(3). The Japanese/English subtitle EPL integrating/optimizing unit 127functions like the edit controller 20 in FIG. 1. The EPL (3) is sent toan edit execution unit 128 which will actually edit the materials.

[0185] The edit execution unit 128 has a similar construction andfunction to those of the content maker 30 in FIG. 1. Since it has storedin an internal server thereof materials supplied from the video camera121, it can edit them using the EPL(3) from the subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit 127.

[0186] The “integration/optimization” means to integrate and optimize adeclare statement, define statement and control statement written in theEPL and related with editing. More specifically, it means to integrateand optimize edit points and sections and image processing processesintended for editing.

[0187]FIG. 10 illustrates a part of the process for integrating andoptimizing the statements in the EPL shown in FIGS. 11 to 15 to make anEPL shown in FIG. 16. More specifically, FIG. 10 shows an example ofintegrating and optimizing logging EPL in FIG. 11 and cut editing EPL inFIG. 12. In the example shown in FIG. 10, provisional-editing joints arekept as they are, not re-joined by a regular editing, and thus many editpoints are found due to the integration of the EPLs. The integration andoptimization shown in FIG. 10 will be described in detail laterfollowing the description made with reference to FIGS. 11 to 16.

[0188]FIG. 11 shows a logging EPL(1) made by the logging unit 122. InFIG. 11, “12345608_(—)23450467_(—)0800468A88000021” following “epl(” inline 1 states an identification code for identification of an output(log-result material). Edit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT) are stated bya time code of a starting frame and a one of an ending frame. In thisexample, the edit cut-in is “00:00:00.00” and the edit cut-out is“00:01:03.12”. A video format of this output can be specified by astatement “#1080i”.

[0189] Next, it is stated that an input material is identified by UMID“29543202_(—)234504C0_(—)0800468A72000098” and an input material whosevideo format is “#1080i” is read out from a storage location“file://43.14.61.62/source/”.

[0190] Next, a pair of “fork” and “join” indicates that one input 1undergoes 5 parallel processes and outputs, namely, results of theprocesses, are added together. The first process is such that a materialacquired from telling with an interviewer, starting at a time code“10:00:00.12” along the time axis at the input side (source materialside) is pasted (inserted) between time codes “00:00.00” and “00:03.00”along the time axis at the output side (log-result material side). Thesecond process is such that a material acquired during telling, startingat a time code “10:01:05.23” along the time axis at the input side isinserted between time codes “00:03.00” and “00:20.13” along the timeaxis at the output side. The third process is such that a materialacquired during telling, starting at a time code “10:02:54.11” along thetime axis at the input side is inserted between time codes “00:20.13”and “00:40.09” along the time axis at the output side. The fourthprocess is such that a background image beyond the head of a talker,starting at a time code “10:05:18.19” along the time axis at the inputside is inserted between time codes “00:40.09” and “00:43.10” along thetime axis at the output side. The fifth process is such that a materialacquired during telling, starting at a time code “10:07:33.03” along thetime axis at the input side is inserted between time codes “00:43.10”and “01:03.12” along the time axis at the output side.

[0191]FIG. 12 shows a cut editing EPL (2-a) made by the cut editing unit123. In the EPL (2-a), UMID “00521209_(—)234504A3_(—)0800468A89000128”is taken as a code for identification of an output (edit-resultmaterial), and edit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT) are “00:00:00.00” and“00:00:45.00”, respectively. Also, a video format of an output can bespecified by a statement “#1080i”.

[0192] Next, it is stated that an input material whose video format is“#1080i”, specified by UMID “12345608_(—)23450467_(—)0800468A88000021”,is taken out from a storage location “file://43.14.61.62/source/”.

[0193] The above input material is used to do the above five cut editingprocesses. The first process is such that a material at a time code“00:00:00.07” along the time axis at the input side is inserted betweentime codes “00:00.00” and “00:23.04” along the time axis at the outputside. The second process is such that a material at a time code“00:00:32.23” along the time axis at the input side is inserted betweentime codes :00:23.04” and “00:28.17” along the time axis at the outputside. The third process is such that a material at a time code“00:00:40.09” along the time axis at the input side is inserted betweentime codes “00:28.17” and “00:31.18” along the time axis at the outputside. The fourth process is such that a material at a time code“00:00:44.12” along the time axis at the input side is inserted betweentime codes “00:31.18” and “00:37.29” along the time axis at the outputside. The fifth process is such that a material at a time code“00:00:52.21” along the time axis at the input side is inserted betweentime codes “00:37.29” and “00:45.00” along the time axis at the outputside. The results of these five processes are added together.

[0194] Statements between “fork” and “join” enclosing the above fiveprocesses are followed by statements “jack (mosaic)” and “jack (super)”.The “jack” indicates a position where data is received from “child EPL”at the time of an optimization by the subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit 127. The “(mosaic)” and “(super)” areprovisional IDs arbitrarily given by the user. In this example, the“(mosaic)” is used since it indicates a position where an EPL made bythe mosaic editing by the mosaic editing unit 124 is received. Also, the“(super)” is used since it indicates a position where an EPL made by theJapanese subtitle editing by the Japanese subtitle editing unit 125 isreceived. After the optimization, the statements “jack (mosaic)” and“jack (super)” will disappear.

[0195]FIG. 13 shows a mosaic editing EPL (2-b) made by the mosaicediting unit 124. In the EPL (2-b), UMID“21341109_(—)23450411_(—)0800468A9B000032” specifies an output and editcut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT) are “00:00:00.00” and “00:01:03.12”. Also,a video format of an output can be specified by a statement “#1080i”.

[0196] Next, UMID “12345608_(—)23450467_(—)0800468A88000021” is astatement that an input material whose video format is “#1080i” is takenoutput from a storage location “file://43.14.61.62/source/”.

[0197] Then, the input material is used to do the following two mosaicediting processes. The first mosaic editing process is such that animage processing method specified by a process ID (UTID)“12000000000C0004” stored in a storage location“ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” is done with a similar video format “#1080i”to that of the input material and a setting “=384×232+880+128”. Theresult of this mosaic editing is inserted between an edit cut-in“00:03.00” and cut-out “00:40.09”. The second mosaic editing process issuch that an image processing method specified by a process ID (UTID)“12000000000C0004” stored in a storage location“ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” is done with a similar video format “#1080i”to that of the input material and a setting “=400×256+864+96”. Theresult of this mosaic editing is inserted between an edit cut-in“00:43.00” and cut-out “01:03.12”. The results of these two mosaicediting processes are added together.

[0198] Statements between “fork” and “join” enclosing the above twoprocesses are followed by a statement “plug (mosaic)”. The “plug”indicates a position where data is transferred to “parent EPL” at thetime of an optimization by the subtitle EPL integrating/optimizing unit127. The “mosaic” is a provisional ID arbitrarily given by the user. Thestatement “plug (mosaic)” will disappear after the optimization.

[0199]FIG. 14 shows a Japanese subtitle editing EPL (2-c)made by theJapanese subtitle editing unit 125. In the EPL (2-c), UMID“12221109_(—)234504FB_(—)0800468AC1000341” specifies an outputidentification code and edit cut-in (IN) and cut-out (OUT) are“00:00:00.00” and “00:01:03.12”. Also, a video format of an output canbe specified by a statement “#1080i”.

[0200] Next, UMID “12345608_(—)23450467_(—)0800468A88000021” states thatan input material whose video format is “#1080i” is taken output from astorage location “file://43.14.61.62/source/”.

[0201] Then, the input material is used to do the following editingprocesses. First, a processing method specified by a process ID (UTID)“1200000000130081” stored in a storage location“ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” is done with a similar video format “#1080i”to that of the input material to make a subtitle “A man on theairplane”. The result of this subtitle editing is inserted between anedit cut-in “00:00.00” and cut-out “00:10.00”. Next, a process ID (UTID)“1200000000120081” stored in a storage location“ftp://43.14.61.62/exec/” is done with a similar video format “#1080i”to that of the input material to make a subtitle “The moment the planetook off, I fainted.” The result of this subtitle editing issuperimposed (inserted) between an edit cut-in “00:01.00” and cut-out“00:04.02” Then, the same processing method stored in the same storagelocation is done with the same video format to make a subtitle “I wokeup to find myself on an island in the south”. This subtitle issuperimposed (inserted) between edit cut-in “00:04.12” and cut-out“00:07.29”. Further, some Japanese subtitles are inserted into an image.Finally, the same processing method stored in the same storage locationis done with the same video format to make a subtitle “I saw a viewspreading which I mut have dreamed of before”, and this subtitle issuperimposed between edit cut-in “01:00.12” and “01:03.12”. The resultsof these editing processes are added together.

[0202] Statements between “fork” and “join” enclosing the aboveprocesses are followed by a statement “plug (super)”. The “plug (super)”indicates a position where data is transferred to “parent EPL” at thetime of an optimization by the subtitle EPL integrating/optimizing unit127 as mentioned above.

[0203]FIG. 15 shows an English subtitle editing EPL (2-d) made by theEnglish subtitle editing unit 126. This EPL is an English version of theJapanese subtitle editing EPL having been described with reference toFIG. 14. The EPLs (2-d) and (2-c) are similar to each other except forthe subtitles and translating process ID. So, the EPL (2-d) will not bedescribed any further.

[0204]FIG. 16 shows an EPL (3) made by the Japanese/English subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit 127 by integrating and optimizing the EPLs(2-a), (2-b) and (2-c) from the editing units. Namely, the EPL (3) ismade by integrating and optimizing cut editing EPL, mosaic editing EPLand Japanese subtitle editing EPL, having been described above withFIGS. 12 to 14. They will not be described in detail.

[0205] In addition, the EPLs (2-a), (2-b) and (2-d) can be integratedand optimized by the Japanese/English subtitle EPLintegrating/optimizing unit 127 to make an English subtitle similar tothe Japanese version. This will not be described herein.

[0206] Next, optimization and integration of edit sections and editpoints in the concrete examples of EPL will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 shows EPLs corresponding to a logging EPLshown in FIG. 11, cut editing EPL shown in FIG. 12 andintegrating/optimizing EPL shown in FIG. 14, respectively.

[0207] As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a logging material includes a firstedit section E1, second edit section E2, third edit section E3, fourthedit section E4 and a fifth edit section E5, each set for a sourcematerial. Also, a curt editing material includes a first edit sectionE1′, second edit section E2′, third edit section E3′, fourth editsection E4′ and a fifth edit section E5′, each set for the loggedmaterial as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12. It should be noted that in FIG.10, the fourth edit section E4, fifth edit section E5, third editsection E3′, fourth edit section E4′ and fifth edit section E5′ areomitted for the convenience of illustration and description.

[0208] As having been described above, the cut editing EPL shown in FIG.12 is information specifying how the logging time codes“00:00:00.07-00:00:52.21” are assigned to the cut-editing time codes“00:00:00.00-00:00:45.00”. The online editing actually effected by theeditor is not such that a logging material is made of a source materialand a cut-editing material is made of the logging material, but suchthat a source material is edited and a cut-editing material is made as aresult of the source-material editing. That is, the final editinginformation the editor desires is a relationship in time code between asource material and a cut-editing material. In other words, the editinginformation the editor desires is information indicating how a time codeof the edit-result material is assigned to a one of the source material.

[0209] For explanation of the EPL integrating and optimizing processes,especially the first edit section E1′ set for the logging material inorder to make a cut-editing material from the logging material will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 10. The first edit section E1′ includesthe first edit section E1, second edit section E2 and third edit sectionE3, each set for a source material. Namely, for representing the firstsection E1′ of the cut-editing material with a time code of the sourcematerial, three edit sections “00:00.00-00:02.23”, “00:02.23-00:20.06”and “00:20.06-00:23.04” are required. Therefore, in a final EPL, thefirst edit section E1′ has to be stated using the time codes of theabove three edit sections in order to show how the time code of theedit-result material is correlated with the time code of the sourcematerial.

[0210] That is to say, in the above examples of edit sections andpoints, the EPL integration and optimization are to re-set edit sectionsand points, and time codes so that time codes of an edit-result materialcare be correlated with a source material. In the above examples, whenthe edit sections and points are re-set, they are increased in number.However, they are not always increased in number. In case edit sectionsreset by the EPL integration and optimization are consecutive, thenumbers of them are smaller as the case may be. Alternatively, when there-set edit sections overlap each other, the number of edit points issmaller in some cases. Also, the above examples show the integration andoptimization of edit points and sections. However, the present inventionis not limited to the examples but integration and optimization are donein the editing-related image processing and transform.

[0211] In the examples shown in FIGS. 10 to 16, the cut editing iseffected in two steps. The provisional-editing joints are kept as theyare, not re-joined by a regular editing, and thus many edit points arefound.

[0212] Also in the examples, all the material, titler and effector areacquired from the same server. They are all existent in an LAN in whichthe edit execution unit is also provided, which is not specified. It isexpected that materials will be acquired from remote servers, which is asafe measure from the viewpoint of the system running.

[0213] An example of the EPL integration and optimization forNTSC-oriented material conversion is shown for reference in FIG. 17.Since the EPL integration and optimization are intended for the NTSCsystem, the formats for the processing and output are both “#525i”irrespectively of the video format “#1080i” at the material source.Therefore, the EPL integration will result in an EPL (3) having astatement of “down converter” at the end thereof. Also, in case theprocessing sequence is obvious, connection of statements using “plug( )”and “jack( )” is required.

[0214] Thus, in the content forming system 120 whose construction isillustrated in FIG. 9, the EPL editing can be effected various editingunits sharing the work of editing since materials are not directlyprocessed but the editing units can go on with its shared EPL editingprocess simultaneously. Also, in an EPL made by each of the editingunits, a video format of an output is identified with a scan format.Thus, any input material can freely be selected. Also, output videos ofmultiple formats can be acquired simultaneously.

[0215] As a concrete example of the editing at a remote place, a contentforming system 130 as shown in FIG. 18 can be provided in addition tothe content forming system 60 shown in FIG. 8. In this content formingsystem 130, a material including video and/or audio data, picked up by avideo camera 131, is compressed by a low-rate encoder 132, and sent as asub material to an editing unit 135 via a mobile telephone 133 orInternet 134. In the editing unit 135, the sub material is played back,rewound or fast forwarded as desired, and an EPL is made while viewing avideo displayed on a monitor. The EPL includes identificationinformation for identification of materials to be used in editing, and aformat declare statement for defining the format of at least a certainmaterial. The EPL thus made is sent to an edit execution unit 140 via amobile telephone 136 or Internet 137. To the edit execution unit 140,there will be also sent a material from the video camera 131 viahand-carry of a video tape 138 or via the Internet 139. Having the abovematerial stored in an internal server thereof, the edit execution unit140 can edit it using the EPL.

[0216] As having been described in the foregoing, the previouslymentioned problem can be solved by stating, in an EPL, a UMID foridentification of a material used in editing and output, and a UTID foridentification of an input material and video format of output.

[0217] Next, the present invention will be described concerning theprevention of image deterioration as a problem to be solved.

[0218] For example, after joining some cuts (video scenes) to a picturepicked up by a video camera (cut editing) and superimposing telopcharacters (telop editing), data compression and expansion(decompression) will be repeated until a complete video is broadcast,which will cause deterioration of the image quality. This concreteexample will be explained with reference to the process transition chartshown in FIG. 19. First, a picture picked by a video camera 150 iscompressed by bit rate reduction (BRR) encoder (enc) 151, and recordedas a video material to a video tape 152. For cut editing the videomaterial (in the video tape 152), the compressed video material is onceexpanded (decompressed) by a decoder (dec) 153 and then subjected to acut editing by an editing unit (Edit1) 154. The cut-edited videomaterial is compressed again by an encoder 155 and then recorded as avideo material to a video tape 156. Next, for telop editing the videomaterial (in the video tape 156), the compressed video material isexpanded again by a decoder (dec) 157 and then a telop is superimposedby an editing unit (Edit 2) 158. The telop-edited video material iscompressed again by an encoder 159, and then recorded as a videomaterial to a video tape 160. Since the video material (recorded in thevideo tape 160) is converted to a broadcast NTSC format according to abroadcasting date, it is decoded once by a decoder 161, encoded to theNTSC format by an encoder 162, and sent as TV broadcast wave from aground-wave antenna 163 for example. With this series of processes, thevideo material has been compressed 4 times, and expanded 3 times. Thiswill cause the image deterioration.

[0219] The content forming apparatus and method according to the presentinvention can effectively solve this problem of image deterioration.FIG. 20 shows a concrete example of the prevention of imagedeterioration. In the example, a material including video and/or audiodata, picked up by a video camera 170, is compressed by a BRR encoder(enc) 171, and recorded as a video material to a video tape 172. Thevideo material (recorded in the video tape 172) is sent to an EPL maker173.

[0220] The EPL maker 173 makes an EPL for cut editing and telop editing.For cut editing of the video material from the video tape 172, thecompressed video material is expanded (decompressed) once by a BRRdecoder (dec) 174. Then an editing unit (Edit 1) 175 makes the cutediting of the decompressed video material. This cut editing is effectedby making the EPL. Also, the telop editing is effected by a telopediting unit 177 using the Epl made by the cut editing unit (Edit 1)175. More specifically, the telop editing unit 177 makes a telop editingEPL while monitoring the material decoded by a BRR decoder 176.

[0221] The EPL made by the EPL maker 173 is sent to an edit executionunit 179 having also a material decoded by a BRR decoder 178 suppliedthereto. The edit execution unit 179 makes cut editing and telop editingof the material according to the EPL, and sends the results of the cutediting and telop editing to a BC NTSC encoder 180. Then, data convertedto NTSC format by the BC NTSC encoder 180 is transmitted as TV broadcastwave from a ground-wave antenna 181 for example. With this series ofprocesses, the video material has been compressed only 2 times anddecoded substantially only once.

[0222] Therefore, the content forming system shown in FIG. 20 can workwith less image deterioration than the conventional system shown in FIG.19. That is, since the compression and decompression are not repeated sooften in the course of editing than in the conventional system, theimage quality can be maintained with less deterioration.

[0223] Also, the content forming apparatus and method according to thepresent invention can workwith maintenance of an image quality insimulcasting of a common program on two systems whose formats aredifferent from each other, for example. The simulcasting will bedescribed below with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22.

[0224]FIG. 21 shows a conventional system for simulcasting a program inboth NTSC and high-definition (Hi-vision) formats. The simulcastingsystem is generally indicated with a reference 1990. As shown, in thesimulcasting system 190, a video in Hi-vision format “1080i”, read froma video tape 191, and a video resulted of up-conversion by anup-converter 193 of a video in NTSC format “525i”, read from a videotape 192 to the format “1080i”, undergo an editing by an editing unit194. The editing unit 194 edits the videos in the format “1080i” toproduce an output video in the Hi-vision format. The output video istransmitted as a broadcast wave from an antenna 195, while beingdown-converted to “525i” by a down-converter 196 for transmission as abroadcast wave from an antenna 197.

[0225] Thus, in the system 190, the video in the NTSC format “525i” isup-converted once to “1080i”, and then edited in the format “1080i”. Theoutput in the format “1080i” is down-converted to the NTSC format“525i”. The video in the NTSC format is also edited in the format“1080i” and converted to “525i” before broadcasting.

[0226]FIG. 22 shows a simulcasting system including the content formingapparatus and method according to the present invention. Thesimulcasting system is generally indicated with a reference 200. Thissystem can work with no image deterioration of NTSC video. As shown,when edit execution units 203 and 204 execute editing based on an EPLmade by the Epl maker 10 shown in FIG. 1 for example, the contentforming system 200 can produce the edited video in the NTSC format“525i” without repetition of up-conversion and down-conversion.

[0227] The video format conversion from an HD image (1080i) to SD image(525i) or vice versa, made by the edit execution units 203 and 204 inthe system 200 will be described below with reference to FIG. 23.

[0228] As shown in FIG. 23, an input video signal is stored into fieldmemories 211 and 212 in this order. A motion detector 210 is provided todetect a motion from field images between which a time difference alongthe time axis has been given by the field memories 211 and 212. Aframe/field tap select signal indicating that the result of motiondetection by the motion detector 210 has shown a motion of a frameimage, is supplied to a transversal type vertical filter 213. Thetransversal type vertical filter 213 makes vertical filtering of thefield images between the time difference has been given by the fieldmemories 211 and 212, based on the frame/field tap select signal. Theoutput from the vertical filter 213 is supplied to a transversal typehorizontal filter 214 which will make horizontal filtering of thevertical filter output. The output from the horizontal filter 214 issupplied to an image enhance unit 215.

[0229] The image enhance unit 215 enhances high-press component of thehorizontal filter output. The output from the image enhance unit 215 issupplied to an image signal converter 216 which will convert Y/Pb/Pr toan RGB signal. The RGB signal is supplied to an inverse gamma correctionunit 217 which will make inverse gamma correction of the RGB signal. Theoutput from the inverse gamma correction unit 217 is supplied to acolorimetry converter 218 which will make colorimetry conversion of theoutput from the inverse gamma correction unit 217. The output from thecolorimetry converter 218 is supplied to a gamma correction unit 219.

[0230] The gamma correction unit 219 makes gamma correction of theoutput from the colorimetry converter 218 and supplies it to an imagesignal converter 220 which will convert the RGB data into a Y/Pb/Prsignal. The Y/Pb/Pr signal is an output video signal.

[0231] Therefore, the process effected in the image signal converter 216or 220 in the construction shown in FIG. 23 can be changed to down or upconversion.

[0232] Industrial Applicability

[0233] In the content forming apparatus and method according to thepresent invention, identification information for identification ofmaterials used in editing and edit output, identification informationfor identification of a processing method and a format declare statementfor identification of an input material and output video format arestated in an edit decision list. Thus, since a material can be acquiredbased on its ID in forming a content, it is possible during editing notto transmit any large volume of image data. Also, by acquiring amaterial when it becomes necessary to actually form a content, copyrightprotection and billing can be made. Since a processing method can becited based on its ID, any editing environment (abilities of theequipment) will do. Also, copyright protection and billing can be madefor the processing method itself. Also, any input material can freely beselected. Also, outputs in multiple formats can be acquiredsimultaneously. Also, since an EPL is made at a low level of imagequality, it can be made in any place and environment. Since any materialis not directly processed, multiple groups distributed at differentlocations can share the work of editing a content.

[0234] Also, in the edit decision list making method according to thepresent invention, the content of an edit is defined using at leastidentification information for identification of an edit output and aformat declare statement for identification of a format, an inputmaterial is defined using at least identification information foridentification of an input material and a format declare statement foridentification of an input material format, and processes to be appliedto the input material are defined. So, an edit decision list for forminga content can be made with prevention of image data degradation,supporting multiple image data formats, having not to pool any materialonce on hand and with capability of switching processes from one toanother.

[0235] Since identification information for identification of a materialused in editing and edit output, identification information foridentification of a processing method and a declare statement foridentification of an input material and output video format are statedin an edit decision list, a material can be acquired based on its ID informing a content during editing and it is possible during editing notto transmit any large volume of image data. Also, by acquiring amaterial when it becomes necessary to actually form a content, copyrightprotection and billing can be made. Since a processing method can becited based on its ID, any editing environment (abilities of theequipment) will do. Also, copyright protection and billing can be madefor the processing method itself. Also, any input material can freely beselected. Also, outputs in multiple formats can be acquiredsimultaneously. Also, since an EPL is made at a low level of imagequality, it can be made in any place and environment. Since any materialis not directly processed, multiple groups distributed at differentlocations can share the work of editing a content.

[0236] Also, in the content forming apparatus according to the presentinvention, distributed edit decision lists made by distributed editdecision list making means at other distributed locations are integratedand optimized by an edit decision list making means to make a final editdecision list of a hierarchical structure, and a content of an arbitraryformat is formed by a content making means based on the edit decisionlist. Since in the edit decision list and/or distributed edit decisionlists, there are stated identification information for identification ofa material used in editing and a format declare statement foridentification of a format of at least a certain material, a content inan arbitrary format can be formed with supporting multiple image dataformats, having not to pool any material once on hand and withcapability of switching processes from one to another.

[0237] Also, in the content forming method according to the presentinvention, distributed edit decision lists made using multiple videoand/or audio materials at distributed edit decision list making steps atother distributed locations are integrated and optimized at an editdecision list making step to make a final edit decision list of ahierarchical structure, and a content of an arbitrary format is formedat a content making step based on the edit decision list. Since in theedit decision list and/or distributed edit decision lists, there arestated identification information for identification of materials usedin editing and a format declare statement for identification of a formatof at least a certain material, a content in an arbitrary format can beformed with supporting multiple image data formats, having not to poolany material once on hand and with capability of switching processesfrom one to another.

[0238] Note that the present invention is not limited to theaforementioned embodiments, but can be modified or varied in variousforms without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forthin claims given later.

1. A content forming apparatus for forming a content from multiple videoand/audio materials, the apparatus comprising: means for making an editdecision list for the video and/or audio materials; an edit controllingmeans for making an edit control signal based on the edit decision listmade by the edit decision list making means; and means for forming acontent in a predetermined material format from the material based onthe edit control signal from the edit controlling means; the editdecision list including identification information for identification ofa material for use in editing, and a format declare statement fordefining a format of at least a certain material.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the material identification information isa globally unique identification code and an identification code foridentification of a material processing method is determined accordingto the identification code system.
 3. The apparatus according to claim1, wherein the format declare statement includes an image format of aninput video material and/or an image format of an edit-output material.4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image format is ascan format including at least a time for one frame during capturing, acapturing shutter speed, numbers of vertical and longitudinal pixels ofan image and an aspect ratio item of each of the pixels.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein sub materials resulted from highcompression of the material are used for making an edit decision list ofthe material.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sourcefrom which the material is acquired is embedded in the edit decisionlist and specified by either a path in an editing system or an addressof an external server connected via a network.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the edit decision list is of ahierarchical structure allowing any other existing edit decision list tobe stated with an additional globally unique identification code foridentification of the edit decision list itself.
 8. A content formingmethod of forming a content from multiple video and/audio materials, themethod comprising steps of: making an edit decision list for the videoand/or audio materials; making an edit control signal based on the editdecision list made at the edit decision list making step; and forming acontent in a predetermined material format from the material based onthe edit control signal made at the edit controlling step; the editdecision list including identification information for identification ofa material for use in editing, and a format declare statement fordefining a format of at least a certain material.
 9. An edit decisionlist making method for forming a content from multiple video and/oraudio materials, the method comprising steps of: defining how theediting is to be done using at least identification information formidentification of an edit output and a format declare statement foridentification of a format; and defining a process to be applied to aninput material while defining the input material using at leastidentification information for identification of the input material anda format declare statement for identification of a format of the inputmaterial.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the outputidentification information and input material identification informationare globally unique identification codes, respectively, of the samesystem.
 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the processdefining step is to state a process to be applied to the input materialwith a globally unique identification code of the same system.
 12. Themethod according to claim 9, wherein the process defining step is todefine multiple input materials using at least the identificationinformation and format declare statement and state a process to beapplied to each of the input materials with globally uniqueidentification codes of the same system.
 13. The method according toclaim 12, wherein the process defining step is to state a process to beapplied to each of the input materials with a globally uniqueidentification code of the same system.
 14. The method according toclaim 9, wherein: the format declare statement for identification of howto process includes an image format of an edit output video; and theformat declare statement for identification of the input materialincludes an image format of an input video material.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein the image format is a scan formatincluding at least a time for one frame during capturing, a capturingshutter speed, numbers of vertical and longitudinal pixels of an imageand an aspect ratio item of each of the pixels.
 16. The method accordingto claim 9, wherein sub materials resulted from high compression of theinput material defined at the process defining step are used for makingan edit decision list.
 17. The method according to claim 9, furtherincluding a step of making an edit decision list by integrating andoptimizing at least two edit decision lists having been made at the editdefining step and process defining step.
 18. The method according toclaim 17, wherein at the integrating/optimizing step, there is made anintegrating/optimizing edit decision list of a hierarchical structureallowing to state, in the edit decision list, any other existing editdecision list to be stated with an additional globally uniqueidentification code for identification of the edit decision list itself.19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the integrating/optimizingstep is to make a hierarchical-structured integrating/optimizing editdecision list of the at least two edit decision lists.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 19, wherein the integrating/optimizing step is tomake a hierarchical-structured integrating/optimizing edit decision listbased on the at least two edit decision lists received via a network.21. The method according to claim 17, wherein identification informationis added to the at least two edit decision lists.
 22. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein at least the two edit decision lists havestated therein a position for transfer to an upper edit decision listand/or a position for reception of a lower edit decision list.
 23. Themethod according to claim 17, wherein the at least two edit decisionlists are made at distributed locations.
 24. The method according toclaim 17, wherein the at least two edit decision lists are made inparallel.
 25. A content making apparatus comprising: means for making afinal edit decision list of a hierarchical structure by integrating andoptimizing distributed edit decision lists made of multiple video and/oraudio materials at other distributed locations; means for making thedistributed edit decision list of a material corresponding to the editdecision list made by the edit decision list making means; and means forforming a content in an arbitrary format based on the edit decision listmade by the edit decision list making means; the edit decision listand/or distributed edit decision list including identificationinformation for identification of a material for use in editing and aformat declare statement for defining a format of at least a certainmaterial.
 26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the editdecision list made by the edit decision list making means anddistributed edit decision list made by the distributed edit decisionlist making means are stored as a file in a program folder andtransmitted via a network.
 27. The apparatus according to claim 25,further comprising multiple distributed edit decision list making means.28. The apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising means forstoring/retrieving a content in a predetermined format, made based onthe edit decision list having been made by the edit decision list makingmeans.
 29. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein anidentification code for identification of a material processing methodis determined according to the globally unique identificationinformation of the same system.
 30. The apparatus according to claim 25,wherein the format declare statement includes an image format of aninput video material and/or an image format of an edit output.
 31. Theapparatus according to claim 30, wherein the image format is a scanformat including at least a time for one frame during capturing, acapturing shutter speed, numbers of vertical and longitudinal pixels ofan image and an aspect ratio item of each of the pixels.
 32. Theapparatus according to claim 25, wherein sub materials resulted fromhigh compression of the material are used for making an edit decisionlist of the material.
 33. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein asource from which the material is acquired is embedded in the editdecision list and specified by either a path in an editing system or anaddress of an external server connected via a network.
 34. A contentmaking method comprising steps of: making a final edit decision list ofa hierarchical structure by integrating and optimizing distributed editdecision lists made of multiple video and/or audio materials at otherdistributed locations; making the distributed edit decision list ofmaterials corresponding to the edit decision list made at the editdecision list making step; and means for forming a content in anarbitrary format based on the edit decision list made at the editdecision list making step; the edit decision list and/or distributededit decision lists including identification information foridentification of a material for use in editing and a format declarestatement for defining a format of at least a certain material.
 35. Anediting apparatus comprising: means for making a declare statementwritten by correlating identification information for identification ofa source video material with a language for defining multiple editingprocesses to be applied to the source video materials; and means forediting the source video materials based on the declare statement. 36.An editing method comprising steps of: making a declare statementwritten by correlating identification information for identification ofa source video material with a language for defining multiple editingprocesses to be applied to the source video materials; and editing thesource video materials based on the declare statement.
 37. An editingapparatus comprising: means for making a statement intended to specifyexecution of multiple editing processes to be applied to a source videomaterial and written in a predetermined descriptive language foridentification of how to process and what to be edited in the multipleediting processes; and means for editing the source video material basedon the statement.
 38. An editing method comprising steps of: making astatement intended to specify execution of multiple editing processes tobe applied to a source video material and written in a predetermineddescriptive language for identification of how to process and what to beedited in the multiple editing processes; and editing the source videomaterial based on the statement.
 39. An editing information makingapparatus comprising: means for receiving information as to multipleediting processes to be applied to a source video material; and meansfor making, based on the information as to the editing processes, adeclare statement written by correlating identification information foridentification of the source video material with a language for definingmultiple editing processes to be applied to the source video material.40. An editing information making method comprising steps of: receivinginformation as to multiple editing processes to be applied to a sourcevideo material; and making, based on the information as to the editingprocesses, a declare statement written by correlating identificationinformation for identification of the source video material with alanguage for defining multiple editing processes to be applied to thesource video material.
 41. An editing information making apparatuscomprising: means for receiving information as to multiple editingprocesses to be applied to a source video material; and means formaking, based on the information as to the editing processes, astatement intended to specify execution of the multiple editingprocesses to be and written in a predetermined descriptive language foridentification of how to process and what to be edited in the multipleediting processes.
 42. An editing information making method comprisingsteps of: means for receiving information as to multiple editingprocesses to be applied to a source video material; and means formaking, based on the information as to the editing processes, astatement intended to specify execution of the multiple editingprocesses to be and written in a predetermined descriptive language foridentification of how to process and what to be edited in the multipleediting processes.